The mission parameters were simple: investigate the source of the intrusion.

  A report from the outer reach included system anomalies that hadn’t been seen before. It wasn't out of the ordinary for new gates to cause a spike in the radar readings, but the dregs had found a gate that didn’t read as a gate.

  After over 100 years, the report was an outlier. A surprise that called for closer inspection.

  The outer reaches had long since-been abandoned by civilization. The ruins of a century past were hollow and empty. It was like walking into a coffin. The coordinates for the anomaly were further in than she would have preferred, but even monsters avoided the area.

  "Mother One, I'm here at the edge."

  A brief burst of static cut through the radio. "Copy, Outrider. Keep comms clear and check in if you find something."

  Temperature warning. Armor cooling active.

  Even through layers of protective metal, Muyeon could feel the heat outside. The suit would do its best to protect her, but she needed to get underground quickly.

  Just ahead in the wreckage of a downed skyscraper, she saw the entrance. Jagged steel beams protruded from the ground like bones. Just beyond them, the wide opening for a parking garage stretched open like a yawn.

  "I'm here. I'll keep comms open just in case."

  She didn't bother waiting for confirmation. The heat was blistering outside and while there weren't any signs of life, an attack would put her at an immediate disadvantage. Any energy required to cool the suit was energy that wasn't going to power the suit.

  The underground structure provided enough shade that the suit's warnings slowly shut off one by one. The degradation of atmospheric ozone meant that UV rays baked the planet's surface in dangerous zones. Luckily, the rubble and ruins above ground did a good job of absorbing the heat before it ever got to the underground. The structure was well preserved with vehicles for a bygone-era carefully placed throughout in neat patterns.

  Target location... 452 meters ahead.

  "Outrider on the move," she reported, her voice tinged with annoyance.

  In her opinion, the mission was a waste of resources. None more than Muyeon herself. She was better suited to fighting off the hordes or defending her home, Ark One-Four. But the Council had been adamant that the intrusion be investigated.

  And the Federated Council's word was law.

  Navigating the structure wasn't difficult. It was at least a century old and architecture from that period was designed to be straightforward. It was easy to find the ramp leading down to the next level, then the next and so on until the scorching heat of the planet's surface was a distant memory.

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  When she finally arrived at the investigation location, she could tell immediately that the gate was wrong.

  When a gate opens, it causes incursions over time in a uniform pattern stemming from the gate itself. Pieces of alien architecture protruded from the walls and ceilings, but it was uneven, almost haphazard. It was as if the gate was releasing energy in pulses rather than an even rate.

  "Mother One, do you read?"

  There was no response, but that wasn't out of the norm. Comms were unreliable in this region. They'd lost too much territory here and the nearest radio towers were miles away.

  "This is Outrider," she continued. "I've arrived in the investigation area and found the gate. Region shows signs of irregular incursion and the gate itself appears unstable."

  As if to make her point for her, a burst of energy arced out and struck a nearby car immediately vaporized it.

  Muyeon blinked and waited for her armor to respond but there was nothing. No warning system or notification that the gate was unstable. In fact, the armor didn't read the presence of the gate at all. It simply notified her that she was close to her waypoint.

  "Oh, shit."

  If the suit didn't recognize the gate, then it didn't recognize the danger that the gate posed. Which meant-

  She didn't get to finish her thought. A charge bolt of energy reached out from the gate and struck her firmly in the chest.

  The armor responded immediately, throwing flashing warning signs and error messages.

  "This is Outrider! Something's got me! I can't-"

  A burst of static sent a ringing through her ears. She was at least four stories below the surface in an abandoned city on a failing world. The suit was holding up, but just barely. Muyeon could feel the armor starting to bleed heat as its cooling systems worked hard to keep its occupant from burning up.

  She was so focused on the suit that she didn't realize the pull of the gate until she was right in front of it. The bolt pulled her closer to the gate.

  "Mother One! Keep all personnel back, I repeat-"

  With a final burst of energy, Muyeon blinked out of existence. The only proof she'd been there to begin with were the grooves but into the floor when the gate pulled her in.

  ***

  Muyeon raised the spear to block the incoming strike and felt the blow hit so hard that her teeth rattled. She spun around, dodging another attack before responding with a counter thrust of her own. A hand, barely human anymore, reached out and turned her attack aside, parrying it easily.

  The armor was slowing down. Without her helmet, there was no way to know for certain but more than likely her support and secondary functions were down. There was certainly enough power to make her a formidable adversary, but the thing fighting her was nearly fully transfigured.

  The spear screamed through the air as she brought it back around again and again, launching attack after attack. But each was easily dodged or parried. The Muyeon didn’t even see the attack that hit her made it all the worse. A fist slammed into her ribs. She could feel the metal plates take the brunt of the impact, but it still felt like a hammer blow. And before she could catch her breath, the next blow launched her sideways and skipped her across the ground 10 feet before she crashed into the wall.

  Muyeon raised a hand to brush the hair from her face, but she pulled her hand away, it was covered in blood.

  Head injury. Likely not fatal.

  The second bit was wishful thinking, but at this rate it wouldn’t matter. The longer this fight went on, the weaker she would be.

  Slowly, Muyeon lifted herself off the ground.

  She’d been in enough battles to know that death came for everyone. The best someone could hope for was to meet it head-on.